We are well aware that there is a relationship between sleep and health but the details are not always easy to uncover. Lack of sleep can cause serious problems, even death, while excess sleep can be an indicator of a problem.
But not everything is a question of quantity, regularity (or irregularity) also counts.
Sleep and dementia. a research found A strange relationship between our sleep and the appearance of dementia in advanced age. According to the analysis, sleep disorders can be a risk factor for the appearance of this disorder.
Quantity, quality or regularity. Too often health recommendations focus on sleep and sleep hygiene How many more hours? We sleep, although we are well aware that there are other factors that can influence the relationship between health and sleep, such as whether we sleep “all at once” or at different stages.
“However, less emphasis is placed on maintaining regular sleep habits,” A press release explained Matthew Paul Pass, co-author of the work. “Our findings suggest that a person’s sleep regularity is also an important factor when considering a person’s risk of developing dementia.”
measurement cycle. The team studied the sleeping habits of 88,094 British participants over a week. Average age is 62 years. They used smart bracelets to measure this factor from which they created a sleep regularity index based on the probability that a person would be in the same sleep state at two specific points separated by 24 hours.
This translates into an index with values ranging from 100 (a person who always falls asleep and wakes up at the same time) to zero (a person who falls asleep and wakes up at different times each of the seven days).
They then followed these participants for seven years. During that time, 480 participants developed the disease.
Inverse relationship. The party An inverse relationship was found Between sleep regularity and risk of dementia. The relationship held even when controlling for other risk factors such as age, gender or genetic factors, they explained.
Job details published in an article in the magazine NeurologyEdited by the American Academy of Neurology.
Correlation or causation? The team cautions that the research cannot conclude that irregular sleep causes dementia. There is a correlation between the two variables but a direct cause-effect relationship cannot be established based on this.
We cannot rule out this causal relationship either, but further studies will be needed to truly establish it. However, the identification of these new risk factors may be useful in diagnosing the disease and advancing the understanding of a complex disorder with many unknowns still to be resolved.
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Picture | Annie Spratt